Author: Suzie Vance, EnviroPerks
FICTION—Americans don’t recycle a lot of aluminum.
FACT—Americans recycle about 120,000 aluminum cans every minute – almost 535 billion since 1972 – enough to reach to the moon and back 85 times!
FICTION—Aluminum is a major part of our solid waste stream.
FACT—All of that aluminum only makes up about 1% of the total solid waste in the United States.
FICTION—You can only recycle aluminum or glass 50 times before it becomes unrecyclable.
FACT—There’s no limit to how many times aluminum and glass can be recycled.
FICTION—You need to recycle a lot of aluminum cans to save energy.
FACT—Recycling just ONE aluminum can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for more than 24 hours.
FICTION—Americans use about 1,000,000 plastic bottles each day.
FACT—We use about 2,500,000 plastic bottles EVERY SINGLE HOUR in the United States.
FICTION—Plastic is the most recycled item in the United States.
FACT—Aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S. More aluminum goes into beverage cans than any other product.
FICTION—We use over 1 Billion aluminum soda cans each year.
FACT—The number is actually 80 Billion aluminum soda cans each year!
FICTION—Glass bottles are heavier than they were 20 years ago.
FACT—Glass bottles are 40% lighter today than they were 20 years ago.
FICTION—Plastic water bottles are heavier than they used to be.
FACT—A few years ago an empty half-liter water bottle weighed 22 grams. Now, it’s 8.5. (Soda bottles are heavier so they can withstand the carbonation.)